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1.27.2015

Cannot be more annoyed than I am right now. In December I emailed all of my former schools in Korea requesting that my transcript be sent to a specific university in Canada. Two of the schools replied right away. One of those two sent it immediately and the other let me know that I'd have to pay a fee to get it, no problem. Last school does not reply, but I didn't panic cause I knew it was close to holiday break and I could afford to wait until January. I waited until earlier this month and still no reply, so I sent another message. I get a response saying that they emailed me a pdf version. -__- No you did not. And on top of that, I did not ask for pdf copy!! The other two schools understood my request and contacted me to let me know what's up. Where is your professionalism? So I tell them again where I need it sent and included the address again. No response. Send an email again asking them to let me know when they send it so I can have confirmation that it was sent. No response.Finally, just over a week until deadline, I get an email telling me that their office does not issue the transcripts and I must contact another office. Also, I must apply for it!! WTF!! Could not have told me this in the first place? If the person I was first talking to didn't know what they were doing, they should have asked as soon as they got that first email back in December. So now I have sent an email to this next office requesting my transcript and told them it is urgent. I have to wait until middle of the night for response because of time difference. Here's to hoping that I'm done dealing with people who don't know what they're doing, and hopefully they'd send my transcript on time. I may be terrible with replying to texts and fb messages, but I'd always respond to an email. Especially emails that can affect someones' future!!! Ok, now I can calm down and just wait for reply. Worst scenario, I don't get my transcript on time, but hopefully with all my email proof that I've been trying, this other university would be understanding. I need a nap.

1.06.2015

I wasn't very specific in my last post about how I'm going to try to overcome my issues with reading. Just a lot of talking about the problem. I'll try to be more specific. Of the 16 books I want to read this year I want to read: 10 novels, four plays, and two graphic novels. I have put graphic novels and plays in there cause I know they will be easier for me to get through. After I thought about reading 16 books after years of struggling/failing to get through even one, I realised that 16 is a bit of a jump. S.M.A.R.T goals, right? Now this is looking more manageable. Since I'm on break from school right now, I always have an empty house during the day. Going to work on getting out of my vampire sleep mode and be up during the days so I can have a quiet place to read, and natural light coming in. The amount of days I go without seeing the sun...To help me stop with the counting and grouping of words and letters, I'm going to read these books more like how I read textbooks. I don't read out loud, but I do read one word at a time and mouth them out. That really slows me down and maybe it is why I constantly have to stop and count. So I will run my finger under each line I'm reading and find a rhythm I'd more likely be able to keep going on with. If this doesn't work, I'd set up a fund so you guys can help me pay for audio books of every book I want to read. haha Thank you in advance. Good news!!I have only been a member of goodreads for a few days now, but I have already won a book through one of their giveaways!! I'm so excited to receive this book. Hoping that it will be in by the time I finish reading the first HP book. I will write a review on goodreads and here when I finish reading the book. Look out for that.Ok, so my goal looks more doable, and it's out there for all to see. Now I'd go get some sleep. Have a happy first week back at school!!!

1.04.2015

When I was younger I would read all the time. Sometimes up to three books at once. How I managed to keep all the different storylines separate is beyond me. But that was my thing. Always reading.

Sometime in junior high my brain started acting weird and I couldn't get through a book any more, at least not on my own. I would always get distracted when I read. At any given moment I would have to stop reading so I could count the words in the sentence. Then I'd count the letters in the sentence, and if they didn't divide evenly I'd have to move the words around so that I would have even sections. I have no idea why I needed to do this. I would also read certain sentences over and over again until I felt that I read it enough times. And the worst is when I would misread a word. This was so frustrating because sometimes my misreading would completely change the meaning of the sentence, which could change what was happening in the story. I would sit there so frustrated because I was convinced that the author was a terrible writer, not realising that the problem was with me. I'd read things over, but I still saw what I saw and not what was written. I would just put the book down and get back to it another day. It wasn't until I returned to a book that I realised my mistake. If anyone out there knows what causes this, please tell me cause it still happens to this day.

In university I discovered that I could get through a story if I was reading along with a recording of someone reading it as well. Can't make the same stupid mistakes and no time for counting. But imagine having to pay for a hard copy and audio copy of every book. Poor university students can't do that. I also discovered that this mostly happens when I read stories or novels. If I'm reading a textbook nerd or a play theatre nerd then I'm ok. Well not entirely. I still misread a lot, but I don't need to do the counting and grouping.

I know this problem doesn't come from a lack of interest in what I'm reading. I have failed to finish reading the first Harry Potter book, a number of times, and I really enjoyed it, as far as I got. My brain is just messed up. So if you were to ask me what my favourite book is, I'd tell you that it's Stargirl. There's nothing wrong with Stargirl, but that's where I stopped. My favourite books are all these pre-teen novels, and now that I want to read again I get scared. Who's really reading a 800+ page book for fun? (A Song Of Ice And Fire)

I have recently signed up for a goodreads.com account. I don't want Stargirl and Bridge to Terabithia, as good as they are, to be the best books I've ever read. Last month I asked my friends on fb what their favourite books are and I've put them all on my to-read list. I'm going to start with Harry Potter cause I already know that the writing is really clear and the story is really interesting. Jumping straight into Watership Down or Shantaram probably wouldn't be wise. It'll be a few years yet before I attempt the GoT books.